Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems

Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems (HURIDOCS) "is a global capacity-building network of organisations that use documentation techniques, monitoring methods, information management systems and available technologies in the defence of human rights and the prevention of abuses." [1]

"The idea of HURIDOCS was born three years before its official founding in 1982. In 1979, the Ford Foundation called a meeting near Paris of some key human rights organisations. The meeting participants noted that information and communication technologies were being used by commercial companies and government agencies.

"They saw that the community of non-governmental human rights organisations needed to familiarise themselves with these tools. If this were done collaboratively, resources could be pooled.

"An international volunteer working group was formed to create a network-type of organisation. In 1982, the HURIDOCS founding assembly met in Strasbourg and approved the organisational elements of the network: a Council to serve as governing body; members (organisations taking part in the activities of the network on a voluntary basis); and a Permanent Unit composed of fulltime staff to coordinate activities in the network. The HURIDOCS founding president was Martin Ennals (1927-1991), a dedicated human rights activist who had been the first Secretary-General of Amnesty International..." [2]